In the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Maryland, if residential child custody was in dispute at the Scheduling Hearing, the Court would order custody mediation.

The mediators were paid Court employees and mediation was free to the parties.

Due to budget cuts, this service was terminated on July 13, 2012.  Parties can still use private mediators, but more custody cases may end up being tried at even greater costs to the judicial system and the parties.